Public barred from Hotchin hearing
In a surprise move this morning, the public were excluded and media gagged in a top level High Court challenge by beleaguered Hanover boss Mark Hotchin against a Securities Commission asset freezing order.
In a surprise move this morning, the public were excluded and media gagged in a top level High Court challenge by beleaguered Hanover boss Mark Hotchin against a Securities Commission asset freezing order.
Chief High Court judge Justice Helen Winkelmann decided to hold the hearing in chambers despite the fact it appeared on the High Court case list as being in open court.
No reason appears to have been given for the chambers hearing, which automatically excludes the public and prevents a large media contingent from reporting anything said.
As NBR has earlier reported, this hearing was set down to allow Mr Hotchin, currently a resident of Australia’s Gold Coast, to mount a full scale challenge to the freezing order which has permitted him only $1000 per week to live on.
Details of which of Mr Hotchin’s assets have been frozen have yet to be disclosed.
Mr Hotchin, who is represented by Queen’s Council Bruce Stewart, was not in court today.
The hearing is likely to run to a second day and a reserved decision is expected in a few weeks.
The hearing is complicated and centres on the Securities Commission's desire to get more information from Mr Hotchin about trust ownership of properties (on Auckland's Paritai Drive, Matakana and Queenstown) and other trust assets.
Georgina Bond and Jock Anderson
Mon, 14 Feb 2011
Mon, 14 Feb 2011
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Public barred from Hotchin hearing
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